King William at the Mausoleum of his Parents
on the Day of the French
Declaration of War. By Anton von
Werner

The Capitulation of Sedan. By Anton
von Werner

Ferdinand Lassalle

The Iron Foundry. By Adolph von Menzel

Flax Barn in Laren. By Max Liebermann

* * * *
*

BISMARCK AS A NATIONAL TYPE[1]

ByKunoFrancke, Ph.D., LL.D.,
Litt.D. Professor of the History of German Culture,
Harvard University.

No man since Luther has been a more complete embodiment
of German nationality than Otto von Bismarck.
None has been closer to the German heart. None
has stood more conspicuously for racial aspirations,
passions, ideals.

It is the purpose of the present sketch to bring out
a few of these affinities between Bismarck and the
German people.

I

Perhaps the most obviously Teutonic trait in Bismarck’s
character is its martial quality. It would be
preposterous, surely, to claim warlike distinction
as a prerogative of the German race. Russians,
Frenchmen, Englishmen, Americans, undoubtedly, make
as good fighters as Germans. But it is not an
exaggeration to say that there is no country in the
world where the army is as enlightened or as popular
an institution as it is in Germany.

The German army is not composed of hirelings of professional
fighters whose business it is to pick quarrels, no
matter with whom. It is, in the strictest sense
of the word, the people in arms. Among its officers
there is a large percentage of the intellectual elite
of the country; its rank and file embrace every occupation
and every class of society, from the scion of royal
blood down to the son of the seamstress. Although
it is based upon the unconditional acceptance of the
monarchical creed, nothing is farther removed from
it than the spirit of servility. On the contrary,
one of the very first teachings which are inculcated
upon the German recruit is that, in wearing the “king’s
coat,” he is performing a public duty, and that
by performing this duty he is honoring himself.
Nor can it be said that it is the aim of German military
drill to reduce the soldier to a mere machine, at
will to be set in motion or be brought to a standstill
by his superior. The aim of this drill is rather
to give each soldier increased self-control, mentally
no less than bodily; to develop his self-respect;
to enlarge his sense of responsibility, as well as
to teach him the absolute necessity of the subordination